The
Afar
Depression, also known
as the Danakil depression, is the lowest point in Ethiopia and one
of the lowest in Africa and is located in the
north of the Region.The southern part consists of the valley of
the Awash
River, which empties into a string of lakes along the
Ethiopian-Djibouti
border.Other notable landmarks include the Awash and Yangudi Rassa National Parks.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical
Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), the Afar Region has a total
population of 1,411,092, consisting of 786,338 men and 624,754
women; urban inhabitants number 188,723 or 13.4% of the population.
With an estimated area of 96,707 square kilometers, this region has
an estimated density of 14.59 people per square kilometer. For the
entire region 247,284 households were counted, which results in an
average for the Region of 5.7 persons to a household, with urban
households having on average 3.9 and rural households 6.1 people.
Ethnic groups include Afar (90.03%),
Amhara (5.22%), Argobba (1.55%) Tigrayans (1.15%), Oromo (0.61%), Welayta (0.59%), and Hadiya (0.18%). 95.3% of the population is Muslim, 3.9% Orthodox Christian, 0.7%
Protestants, and 0.1% Catholics.

In the previous census, conducted September 1997, the region's
population was reported to be 1,106,383 of whom 626,839 were men
and 479,544 women; urban inhabitants were 85,879 or 7.76% of the
population. The major ethnic compositions were the Afar (91.8%),
Amhara (4.5%), Argobba (0.9%), Tigrayans (0.8%), Oromo (0.8%),
Welayta (0.5%), and Hadiya (0.2%). In the urban areas, the Amhara
ethnicity were the most numerous (42.5%), placing the Afar in
second place (32.6%), followed by Tigrayan (7.8%), Oromo (6.7%),
Argobba (2.6%), and Welayta (2.2%). 95.6% of the population were
Muslim, 3.9% Orthodox Christians, 0.4% Protestants, and 0.1%
Catholics.

Afar is predominantly (90.8%) spoken
in the region and is the working language of the state. Other
languages with a significant number of speakers in the state
include Amharic (6.68%), Tigrigna (0.74%), Oromifa (0.68%), Argobba (0.4%) and Wolaitigna (0.26%).

According to the CSA, , 48.57% of the total population had access
to safe drinking
water, of whom 26.89% were rural inhabitants and 78.11% were
urban. Values for other reported common indicators of the standard of living for the Afar Region
include the following: 67.3% of the inhabitants fall into the
lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 27% and for women
15.6%; and the Regional infant
mortality rate is 61 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which
is less than the nationwide average of 77; at least half of these
deaths occurred in the infants’ first month of life. On 20 April
2007, the Regional government announced that it had increased
health coverage from 34% to 40%, the result of construction of 64
new health clinics, increasing the total for the Region to
111.

Land features

Afar Depression, Erta-Ale active volcanic movement, Awash natural
reserve, Yangundu-Ras national park, Hadar and Aramis area, are the
major tourist attraction area of the region. The Hot springs, Afar
culture and cultural games are other attraction areas.

In 2005, a giant rift was formed in just a few days. The rift
opened when the Dabbahu Volcano, situated in the north of the
region, erupted. The crack forming is thought to be part of the
process in which the Arab and African plates are moving apart. This
new crack, some 500 m long, and 60 m deep, opened when the lava
from the erupting volcano flew underground and cooled into a 60 km
long, 8 m wide dike within days.

Environment

The
Afar
Depression, a plate
tectonic triple junction is found in the Afar Regional
state. This geologic feature is one of earth's great active
volcanic areas. Due to this volcanic activity the floor of the
depression is composed of lava, mostly basalt.The continuous
process of volcanism results in the occurrence of major minerals including potash,
sulfur, salt, bentonite, and gypsum. In
addition to these minerals, there are also promising geothermal
energy sources and hot springs in different areas of the region.
Most of the region's mineral potential are found in Dalul, Brhale
and Afdera woredas of Zone Two. Elidar, Dubti and Mile in Zone one
and Gewane in Zone Three also have some mineral
possibilities.

Afar is home to peculiar wild life, which notably include the
Abyssinian wild Ass, Grevy's Zebra, wild fox, wild cat, Cheetah,
and Ostrich. These wild animals are found in the region's national
parks. Because the region's tourism development is
still in a poor state there are only two lodges in Awash National
Park.

Agriculture

The CSA estimated in 2005 that farmers in Afar had a total of
327,370 cattle (representing 0.84% of Ethiopia's total cattle),
196,390 sheep (1.13%), 483,780 goats (3.73%), 200 mules (0.14%),
12,270 asses (0.49%), 99,830 camels (21.85%), 38,320 poultry of all
species (0.12%), and 810 beehives (less than 0.1%). The CSA
estimated on the basis of a survey performed in December 2003 that
nomadic inhabitants had 1,990,850 cattle (an 83.8% share of those
animals in the Region that year), 2,303,250 sheep (90.6%),
3,960,510 goats (90%), 759,750 camels (85.9%), 175,180 asses
(92.5%), 2960 mules (88.6%), and 900 horses (100%).

On October 1, 2009,
scientists reported that they had found a skeleton, possibly the world's oldest dating around
4.4 million years ago. Named Ardi, it is a form
of the species Ardipithecus ramidus. It is a distant
cousin of the Australopithecus afarensis, Lucy's
species.

Presidents of the Executive Committee

Administrative Zones

Like other Regions in Ethiopia, Afar is subdivided into
administrative zones (and one special woreda,
an administrative subdivision which is similar to an autonomous area and is not part of a zone).
However, these zones have not been given proper names.